AuburnChick's Adventures

Happy New Year, y’all!  Boy, 2016 flew by, didn’t it?!  It’s hard to believe that we are back in January!  Enough about that, though.  Let’s jump into Joyce’s questions, shall we?  Don’t forget to link back up with her and visit others to see how they answered.  Oh, and if I don’t get back to you right away, please forgive me!  Today is our first day back to school after the break, so things are going to be h-e-c-t-i-c…especially because I had a sub the two days before we left so I’ll be picking up the pieces after that.  Ahem.

1.  Share one favorite moment/memory from your Christmas holiday. 

Just one?  I don’t know if I can choose.  We had a wedding AND Christmas to celebrate!  I think, though, that one of my favorite moments was the time my crew of five spent around the tree at my house opening presents.  We did this the night before we left to meet up with our extended family.  Having all of us together, in those moments, will forever be priceless to me.  My boy is in the military now…lots and lots of miles away from me…and I won’t know from year to year if he and his girl will be able to come home for the holidays.  Having this first Christmas with my babies together just felt so right.  Sigh.

2.  What was the best thing you ate over the holidays? Was it homemade or store bought? If it was homemade did you make it?

I made a Soul-Soothing African Peanut Stew (recipe from Oh She Glows recipe book) last week.  It was easy to prepare and packed with flavor!

3.  What was one of the most beautiful things you saw over the holidays?

Even though Rooster and his girl tied the knot in March before he left for basic training, they had their big wedding on the 18th of December.  Watching them stand together in front of the uniform-clad pastor, who is a chaplain in the Air Force, was beautiful.  I haven’t blogged about the wedding yet (I am waiting for pictures), I will share that I did cry.  To watch your youngest…your son…stand, oh so handsome in his Air Force blues…beside his beautiful girl.  There just aren’t words…

4.  What does fresh start mean to you?

Fresh start means starting anew…leaving behind what was and reaching for what will be.

For me, it means leaving behind the angst of the last two months as I begin to walk again…trying to step out in faith and not fear, which there’s much of, trusting God for what lies ahead.

5.  On a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being very positive and 1 being not so great) how would you rate 2016 in terms of personal achievement and well being? Explain.

I’m going to rate 2016 as a 9 in terms of personal achievement.  It really was a wonderful year for me.  Professionally, I felt so validated for the past six years of hard work.  Personally, with my fitness goals, I felt better than I ever had.  Despite my ankle break in November, I can still view 2016 in a positive light.

6.  Every January 1st since 1976 Lake Superior University has published a list of words they’d like to see banished from the Queen’s English. Words may be banished due to misuse, overuse, or just general uselessness. Go here to read more about how the words were chosen or, if you’re like me, to find out what in the world the word or phrase even means or the context in which it’s used. There were quite a few on this year’s list I’d never heard before.

Here’s the 2017 list of banished words-

You, Sir-focus-Bete Noire-Town Hall Meeting-Post Truth-guesstimate-831-historic-manicured-echo chamber-on fleek-bigly-ghost-Dadbod-listicle-get your dander up-selfie drone-frankenfruit-disruption

Which word on the list would you most like to see banished in 2017? What word or phrase would you add to the list?

I would ban “on fleek.”  I hear this term ALL.  THE.  TIME.  at school.  Blech.

7.  Large or small, light or deep, share with us one goal you have for the new year. 

My immediate goal for this year is to walk normally again.  I blogged about that a couple of days ago, but it bears repeating.  I’m at seven weeks post-breakage / six weeks post-surgery.  Sometimes, healing feels like it’s been a slow process.  Then, I look back at pictures from a couple of weeks ago, because I am the picture-taking-queen, and I see how far along I’ve come.  My incisions are almost healed fully, and the swelling has gone down so much.  My foot looks nearly normal again (until it swells after I’ve been walking on crutches).

Still, I have quite a ways to go until I can walk, unaided, on the right foot.

So, I know it could be considered a “superficial” goal.  It’s certainly not soul-searching or whatnot.  It is practical, though.

Sure, I have other goals for my life, but I think I’ll just keep those under wraps for now.

8.  My Random Thought

I think I’ll use this space to brag on my Chicky.  Chicky isn’t much of a homebody.  She doesn’t come “home” (aka, here) to visit often.  I understand.  She has her own life down in sunny south Florida.  Still, she came home for my surgery in November and was back again during the Christmas break.  She was here for two weeks!  We had our ups and downs…hard conversations that needed to be had…but overall, it was a wonderful visit.

She helped out so much.  She deep-cleaned most of our house.  She ran errands and was tender in her care for me.  She never complained about taking the scooter out of the back of the car or getting my crutches ready for me.  She prepared dinner a couple of times and, basically, helped the Mr. keep our household running.

Something I’ve always prided myself on is my independence.  Breaking my ankle has made me realize that asking for help is okay.  My Chicky stepped right in and did her thing.  Quite well, I might add.

Filed under: This-n-That | Tagged: Wednesday Hodgepodge |